Company Profile for Toughman Pro

November 28, 2018

--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nov 28, 2018--Toughman Contest, the Original Toughman Contest, was started in 1979 by Art Dore and his longtime friend Dean Oswald at a local gym (Handy High School Gymnasium) in Bay City, Michigan. Dore and Oswald wanted to prove how tough they were and opened it up to their friends to determine who was the toughest.

From its humble beginnings, Toughman Contest spread like wildfire and quickly became a cultural phenomenon. In its heyday (at the last decade of the last century and the first decade of the present one), Toughman Contest events were held at top Las Vegas Casinos and broadcast live on Fox Sports, FX Network, Showtime and numerous international networks. Fox and the FX Network aired weekly Toughman Contest shows in the early 2000s featuring Matt Vasgersian and NFL Hall of Famer Lawrence Taylor as commentator. At its peak, a record 150 or so Toughman Contest shows were conducted around the USA in 2001.

Tough Contest even had a movie made out it, Tough Enough, the 1983 Hollywood starring then Hollywood heart throb Dennis Quaid. Dore served as a technical advisor and inspired the character played by Warren Oates. The fight series also launched the careers of numerous stars including Christy Martin, Rocky Gannon, Ken Shamrock, Butterbean, Mr. Tand Tommy Morrison, who went on to play starring roles in “Rocky” movies.

As a result of Toughman Contest’s popularity, two-time national finalist Eric “Butterbean” Esch rose to cult status, taking his Toughman stories — and 315-pound frame — on a talk show tour and while also carving out a niche as boxing’s King of the Four-Rounder.

Toughman Contest has even had video games made out of it, including the Sega Genesis game “Toughman Contest.”

Toughman’s popularity with the masses is unquestionable. With hard-rocking music, colorfully nicknamed fighters, long-legged ring girls and icy cold beer, the slugfests dazzled all the senses for men being men. To this day, Toughman Contest is the most widely attended boxing series in the United States in the last three decades. Dozens of Toughman contests continue to be held as annual events in West Virginia, Ohio, Oklahoma and many other communities. Most of the contests, including the West Virginia Toughman, pull 10-20,000 people per event.

Toughman Contest founder Art Dore continue to provide the vision and will be ringside doing his ‘usual thing’ as the Master of Ceremony for the latest Toughman Contest series—Toughman Pro.